Cinefantastique Online

Spectacular action wire-work, choreographed by Corey Yuen

The folks over at Sci Fi Japan sound pretty excited about the U.K. trailer for BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, but I find my own enthusiasm considerably more muted. Slated for theatrical release in Japan on May 29 and in the U.K. on June 12, this live-action remake of a 48-minute anime from 2000 is scheduld to reach U.S. theatres on July 10.  The animated film earned some accolades for being ground-breaking in its technique – using computer-generated imagery to simulate the traditional look of Japanese anime – but it was frankly a rather dull piece of work, featuring a mono-expression heroine who walks around looking nothing but sullen at school until she flashes her sword from time to time to kill off some mutant vampires. It’s basically a Japanes Buffy, without the humor, and the vampire-slayer is (apparently) half-vampire (harkening back to VAMPIRE HUNTER D and BLADE).

Unfortunately, back story and exposition were virtually non-existent in the anime, and the whole thing felt pretty much exactly like what it was: an excuse to experiment with some new techniques. Since then, there has been a manga sequel and a spin-off television show, which hopefully filled in some of the details that the original couldn’t be bothered to explicate.

All of this is a long way of saying the source material isn’t really much to get excited about – its reputation far outstrips its actual quality. Regardless of that, the live-action film has a few points of interest, the most notable being the presence of Corey Yuen (THE ONE, X-MEN) as the action choreographer; also, Ronny Yu (director of the excellent Hong Kong action fantasy THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR) had a hand in the screenplay. And truth be told, the trailer does look good enough to make me hope that the live-action feature will be much better than the original. Here’s hoping for the best…

Note: This article previously embedded a YouTube trailer, which has since been pulled. You can still see the U.K. trailer at Sci Fi Japan, and we have posted the U.S. trailer here.

UPDATE: The film will be playing in these theatres

• Landmark Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, California
• Regal University Town Center 6  in Irvine, California
• Mpark Cinema in Los Angeles, California
• National Amusements The Bridge in Los Angeles, California
• Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood, California
• Landmark Hillcrest Cinema in San Diego, California
• AMC Van Ness in San Francisco, California
•  Pearlridge West 16 in Aiea, Hawaii
• Kahala Theatres 8 in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Landmark Century Centre Cinema – in Chicago, Illinois
• Landmark Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Landmark Embassy in Waltham, Massachusetts
• Regal Village Square 18 in Las Vegas, Nevada
• AMC Empire 25 in New York, New York
• AMC Village 7 in New York, New York
• DallasLandmark Magnolia 5 in Dallas, Texas
• Angelika Film Center in Houston, Texas
• AMC Pacific Place in Seattle, Washington
• Landmark Varsity in Seattle, Washington
• Landmark E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C.